de witt



R. H. DE WITT SKATE SHARPENER Jan. 21, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 20, 1962 INVENTOR.

RAYMOND H. DeWlTT Obwlin. Daley w ATTORNEYS Jan. 21, 1964 R. H. DE WlTT 3,118,256

SKATE SHARPENER Filed July 20, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q U) E Q LL IN V EN TOR.

FIG 2.

RAYMOND H. DeWlTT ATTORNEYS Jan. 21, 1964 R. H. DE WITT 3,118,256

SKATE SHARPENER Filed July 20, 1962 4 Sheets$heec s FIG 3 IN V EN TOR. RAYMOND H. DeWlTT om. mm; & 0mm

ATTORNEYS Jan. 21, 1964 R. H. DE WlTT 3,118,255

SKATE SHARPENER Filed July 20, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG 4 L\L Lllfl- I I0 I24 I23 @125 l J C INVENTOR IH RAYMOND H. DeWITT BY l H4 H68 Oberllnflabydhmdlg ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,ll23,256 SKATE SHARPENER H. De Witt, iymouth, Ghio, assignor to The Fate-Root-Heath (Iompany, Plymouth, Ghio, a corporation of Selaware Filed July 2%, @252, Ser. No. 211,236 11 Claims. (Cl. 5196) This invention relates generally, as indicated, to a skate sharpener and more particularly to an ice skate sharpening grinding machine which can be employed quickly and easily to produce new sharp edges along the full length of the ice skate runner.

Heretofore, especially with less expensive skates, the blade is shalpenedsimply by cross grinding the entire length of the blade face. This type of grinding operation will leave cross grinding marks which, of course, cause undue skating friction. However, with higher quality skates, it is required that these cross grinding marks be removed and, moreover, the desired amount of hollow grind be produced on the skate runner. The amount of hollow grind produced on the skate runner, will vary in radius depending upon the principal use to which the skate is to be put. Thus, figure skates will normally have a smaller radius of curvature for the hollow grind and speed skates will have a substantially larger radius of curvature. It can then be seen that the sharpening of skate blades by modern high quality standards is an operation requiring at least two types of grinding passes with the work properly disposed to the grinding wheel.

It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide an ice skate sharpener which can be employed quickly and easily to produce the desired sharp edges on the skate runner.

it is another important object of the present invention to provide a grinding machine for sharpening ice skates having two grmding wheels for performing cross grinding and parallel grinding, respectively, and a clamping fixture for such ice skates which will hold the work properly with respect to both wheels.

A further object is the provision of a grinding machine for the sharpening of ice skates which can place the desired sharp skating edges on the skate blade runner with but two simplified grind ng operations.

A still further object is the provision in such a sharpener of a unique skate blade clamp and holder which will properly position the blade for both grinding operations and which will permit complete visual access to the runner face being ground.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but one of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

in said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a skate sharpener in accordance with the present invention partially broken away and in section;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of such skate sharpener;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of such skate sharpener as seen from the left in FIG. 1 with the wheel dresser being removed from the wheel surface and the skate blade clamping mechanism not shown;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the opposite side of the skate sharpener as seen in FIG. 3 with the wheel dresser removed for clarity of illustration and the skate blade clamping mechanism now shown;

PEG. 5 is a side elevation including the blade clamp echanism showing the grinding head assembly in its alternative position for the parallel grinding operation;

FIG. 6 is a detail view of the mounting of the grinding head assembly partially broken away and in section;

FIG. 7 is a similar detail view of such mounting as seen from the left in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 illustrates the manner in which the skate runner may be clamped in the hol er by means of a springing bar properly to straighten the runner.

Referring now to the annexed drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the illustrated skate sharpener in accordance with the present invention comprises five basic components which for conveniences of shipping may be readily separated. 'lhe first is a relatively heavy circular floor base ll supporting centrally therein a pedestal pipe 2, which, of course, in the broken away illustration of FIG. 1, is greatly foreshortened. On top of the pedestal pipe 2, there may be provided a support shaft and arm assembly indicated generally at 3 with such arm assembly supporting at its distal end an ice skate holding clamp assembly 4. A grinding head assembly 5 then mounted on such support shaft and arm assembly coaxially aligned with the pedestal pipe 2 and base 1.

To assemble the skate sharpener, the pedestal pipe 2 is placed in the floor stand or base 1 and secured by set screws or the like and the support shaft 6 of the shaft and arm assembly 3 may then be secured to the pedestal pipe 2 by suitable fasteners such as Allen set screws 7 provided in adapter 3. The ice skate holding clamp 9 may then be positioned at the distal end of the second arm ltl which is mounted for swmging movement about a vertical axis at the distal end of the first arm iii. A trununion knuckle 13 is provided at the top of shaft 6 accommodating an axle shaft 14 extending horizontally therethrough. Angles 15 and 16 are secured to each end of the axle shaft 14 by screws or the like 17. The outwardly directed flanges of the angles 15 and 16 may then be secured to the main base 18 for the motor 19 of the grinding head assembly 5 by suitable fasteners as shown at 219. In this manner, the various components of the skate sharpener may quickly and easily be assembled and disassembled.

The motor 19 of the grinding head assembly drives a pulley 22 (see PEG. 2), and a V-belt 23 may be trained about such pulley and pulleys 24 and 25 mounted on drive shafts 26 and 27, respectively, driving grinding wheels 23 and 29. Such pulleys and belt may be enclosed in a guard 3% held to the grinding head base by elongated fasteners 31 and 32. Bearings for the shafts 26 and 27 are provided in housings 34 and 35 supported beneath the base in its position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example. As seen more clearly in FIG. 1, each of the grinding wheels 28 and 2 is provided with a semi-circular guard shown at 36 and 37 respectively. Such guards may be fastened to the base 18 by the screws indicated at 39 in FIG. 3. The motor 19 is mounted between uprights 49 and 41 of a special motor mount 42 which is supported on rearwardly extending plate 43 with both the mount and the plate being held to the base 18 by the fastening means 29. It can now be seen that the motor 19 is effective to drive both grinding wheels 28 and 29 by means of the belt pulley drive shown. Cap screws or the like 44 may be employed to hold the bearing housings and arbor assemblies to the base 18 (note FIG. 4) and in place of one of such cap screws, a rotating handle 45 having a knob 46 on the outer end thereof may be provided held in place by lock nut 47. In this manner, a handle is provided to pivot the grinding head assembly about the axis of the knuckle axle shaft 14 to move the grinding head assembly from the PEG. 4 position to the PEG. 5 position, for example. A similar clamping screw 59 in the knuckle 33 may be o ated by handle 51 properly to lock the axle 14 and thus the grinding head assembly in the desired selected position with the grinding wheels in either a vertical or horizontal plane. As seen in HG. 7, a leveling screw 552 may be provided in a bracket 53 acting as a stop properly to support the grinding head in its upright position with the wheels in a vertical plane. The plate 43 at its outer end may be provided with a further leveling screw 54, the head of which will engage the sha t 6 in the position shown in PEG. 5 wherein the grin -g wheels are in a horizontal plane. It is here noted that the pivot axis of the knuckle axle shaft ltd coincides with the horizontal plane of the axes of arbors 2s and 27. Moreover, the grinding wheels 28 and 29 are aligned at their midpoints with the axis of such knuckle axle shaft. Thus a blade presented to the face of grinding wheel 29 for cross grinding in the hori zontal plane of the axle 27 in FIG. 4, for example, can also be presented in the same plane to the face of the grinding wheel 2%; when in the FIG. 5 position for a parallel grinding operation.

The wheel 23 may, for example, be a six inch by quarter in h iubber grinding wheel and the wheel 29 may be a harder four inch by three-quarter inch grinding wheel for the cross grinding operation. Both wheels are held to the respective arbors by the nuts and adapters illustrated at 55 and 5 3. The smaller grinding Wheel 29 has a built-in diamond dresser in icated generally at 58 in FIG. 1 which produces a convex radius on the face of the wheel as shown in PEG. 2. It has been found not necessary to maintain this particular convex shape to use the wheel, but it is necessary to maintain this wheel perfectly round to get the proper results. The dresser is mounted on a semi-circular member 59 which is pivoted at opposite ends bymeans of screws 69 and 61 to diametrically opposite portions of the guard 57, the axis of such pivots 6i and er intersecting the axis of the arbor 27. To use the dresser 53, the lock nut 62 is loosened and the threaded dresser is then fed into the wheel while rotating the dresser back and forth about the pivots 69 and 61.

The cap screws 44 holding the bearing housing 33 for the arbor 9.6 also pass through a bracket 65 for the illustrated radius type diamond dresser for the horizontal rubber grinding wheel 2.8. A tubular member 66 may be welded on top of the upstanding portion of the bracket 65 and the dresser shaft 67 extending through such tubular member may be provided with set collars at each end of such tubular member as shown at as and 69. The proximal end of arm 7% is secured to the end of shaft 67 and a dresser holder 71 is secured to the outer end of the arm 7% by a suitable fastener such as the cap screw shown. A dresser barrel assembly '73 is mounted in the holder and includes an eccentric bar 7 with the diamond dresser '75'being threadedly mounted in the end thereof. The barrel assembly 73 is held in the support housing 71 and positioned by t ghtening or loosening the thumb screw 76 provided therein. The dresser assembly will normally be in its out-of-the-way position as shown in F165. 3 and 5 and may be unlocked by using the T- handle locking screw 78 mounted in the sleeve 66 and rotated around the axis of shaft 67 to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. When thus properly positioned, the feeding of the dresser into the grinding wheel can be 'ccomplished by loosening the thumb screw 76 and moving the dresser barrel assembly '73 through the support housing '71 slightly, thus increasing the amount of contact with the grinding wheel. The dresser, however, must make contact with the grinding wheel below center of its radius so that when the assembly is moved further through the support housing, it engages more of the grinding wheel. Throughout the dressing operation, the dresser is rotated back and forth on the axis of the barrel assembly past the grinding wheel until the desired results are obtained.

The amount of convex face, which is in turn the amount of hollow grind produced on' the skate runner, is controlled by the amount the diamond dresser '75 is adjusted to extend through the dresser holding bar 74. The hollow grind can be gauged by the curvature of three coins, a quarter, half dollar, or silver dollar, held at right angles to the skate blade. The hollow grind to match the curvature of a quarter is used for figure skates and is obtained by extending the diamond dresser of an inch through the holder 7%. The curvature of the half dollar is most commonly used and is obtained by extending the dresser through the holder of an inch. Speed skaters may prefer a silver dollar hollow grind which is obtained by extending the diamond dresser only i of an inch through the holder. At the selected setting, the dresser is then locked in the holder by the lock nut 7?.

As seen in FIG. 4, the main arm 11 is mounted on the sup-port shaft 6 between the adapter 8 and the set collar by means of needle or like roller bearings 81 and 82'. The main arm may be in the form of an i-beam extending from the hub 83 at the proximal end thereof to a similar hub 84 at the distal end thereof. Circular holes 35 may be provided in the web of theT-beam to lighten the weight of such arm. The hub 33 may be provided with a clamp screw indicated at 3.6 in 1 16. 1 properly to lock the arm ill in the desired position.

The outer arm 1% may be in the form of an angle having a top horizontal flange 89 and a vertically extending flange 9%. The inner hub 91 is provided with a downwardly extending pintle 92 which may be journalled by needle bearings or the ill; 93 in the hub 34- at the outer end of the arm 11. A thrust bearing 4- is provided between the hub 91 and the top of the hub 84. The outer end of the arm id is provided with a vertically extending sleeve and post 9'6 of the clamp assembly 9 passes through bronze bushings $7 and d3 in such sleeve. A centering screw bracket $9 may be held to tie sleeve 95 by means of a cap screw or other suitable fastener 1% and the bottom inturn'ed portion rill of such bracket is provided with a centering-screw m2 having a knurled lock nut it)? thereon. The tip of the screw contacts the bottomof the post 96 and in this manner the vertical height of the post may be adjusted.

It can now be seen that the arm assembly 3 provided by the inner and outer arm sections 11 and in is articulated about the vertical axis of the pintle 92. Moreover, the arm assembly can swing about the support shaft 6 and further, the clamp assembly can vertically swing about the axis of the post 96. Bracket 195 may be secured to the hub 91 to act as a stop limiting the amount of swinging of the arm extension 10 with respect to the arm section Ill.

The skate S is held with the runner R extending horizontally by the special clamp assembly 4 which comprises clamps lit and 111 both pivoted to hinge pin 112 extending between the arms 113 and 114 projecting upwardly from the plate 115 which is secured to the post as. A thumb screw 3.16 may extend through the rearward extension 117 of the top clamp 11%) to bear against the rearward extension 118 of the bottom clamp iii. A stop projection 126 on the top of the plate 115 may be provided adapted to engage the bottom clamp so that the clamp with the skate secured therein will be supported by the hinge pin 112 and the stop lid with the runner projecting in a substantially horizontal plane. The stop, however, does not preclude the operator from pivoting the entire clamp assembly to the phantom line position shown at 121 readily visually to inspect the blade or runner R.

As seen in EEG. S, a springing bar 123 may be provided if the runner R will not align with the grinding wheel 23 throughout its entire length. Since many skate runners are bent or sprung out of line, they will have to be straightened before the parallel grinding operation on the Operation The operator standing behind the clamp assembly 9 places the skate S in the clamp with the toe of the runner R on the left-hand side. The grinding operation should always start at the toe and end at the heel and thus grindin will begin on the left side of the runner and end on the right side. This procedure ensures that the parallel grinding operation will be done against the rotation of the grinding wheel. The pintle pivot 92 should be kept to the operators left throughout all of the grinding operations as the machine will originally be aligned with it in this position. The stop 105 may assist in this to render it impossible to pivot it to the right.

The first grinding operation is the cross grinding on Wheel 29 and, after the skate and runner is properly clamped in the assembly 9 and vertical adjustment by neans of the centering screw 102 is obtained to position the skate runner in the center of the grinding wheel 29, the clamp assembly 9 with the skate therein is swung around to the side of the wheel as indicated by the phantom line position 13% in FIG. 2. A center mark will ordinarily be provided on the grinding wheel hub shaft to assist in the proper height adjustment of the runner R.

Another way to set the vertical adjustment of the ice skate would be to align the skate runner with the center of the parallel grinding wheel, since the centers of these wheels are horizontally aligned when the grinding head assembly is in the position shown in FIGS. 1-4. After the skate blade or runner has been properly centered, the grinding head is positioned as shown in such figures and this will then center the skate for the proper cross-grinding by the wheel 29.

After the cross-grinding is completed, in the phantom line position 13% shown in FIG. 2, the arm assembly with the pintle 92. on the operators left can be swung in the direction of the arrow 132 in FIG. 2 to the full line position. The operator may then clamp the arm assembly by means of the screw clamp 86, if desired, and with th handle 51 will release the screw clamp between the knuckle 13 and the axle shaft 1'4 so that the grinding head may be pivoted from its FIGS. 1 and 2 position to its FIG. 5 position. The stop screw 5- will contact the s.aft 6 providing a proper stop and the center of the grinding wheel 2% should now be in the same plane as the runner held between the clamps 3A3 and Ill.

In the second parallel grinding operation, all of the cross-grinding marks left by the first operation will be removed and the amount of hollow grind will be increased. Again, with the pintle 92 on the operators left, the o, erator will ch ck the contact point of the runner With the wheel and adjust the height of the runner if needed. The machine is, however, carefully aligned and the swinging of the skate from one center to the other will normally maintain the skate properly. aligned. It may be necessary to adjust tire skate height slightly due to variation in skate runner thicknesses. The operator will normally check contact at both the toe and heel since many skate runners are bent or sprung out of line. If there is too much run-out from one end to the other, the springing bar shown in FIG. 8 may be employed. Also, some skaters prefer skates sharpened with a parallel grind a little off-center so that the outside edge of the runner may be higher than the inside edge. This may also result in some height adjustment of the runner.

The operator will start grinding at the toe of the blade, moving the skate to the left against the rotation of the grinding wheel. Three or four passes should be enough to produce the finished results desired. The operator may employ the tilt up clamp feature to inspect the progress and results of each pass. The finish obtained in this final operation is generally such that hand honing or finish is not required. However, extreme sharp edges may be touched lightly with a fine honing stone to eliminate the initial biting action which skaters find objectionable if the skates are too sharp.

It can now be seen that there is provided a highly versatile ice skate sharpener with which the steps of crossgrinding and parallel grinding can quickly and easily be accomplished obtaining more accurate and better skating edges.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be en ployed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A skate sharpener comprising a pedestal, an articulated arm mounted on said pedestm for horizontal swinging movement about the axis of said pedestal, a skate holding clamp mounted on said arm adapted to hold an ice skate with the runner thereof in a horizontal plane, a grinding head assembly, a cross-grinding wheel and a parallel grinding wheel mounted on said grinding head assembly, the axes of said wheels being in the horizontal plane of such runner, and pivot means mounting said grinding head assembly on said pedestal adapted to pivot said grinding ead assembly about a horizontally extending pivot axis in such plane to place said wheels to rotate in a vertical or horizontal plane, said skate holding clamp being freely movable such horizontal plane of such runner whereby the runner of such skate may be presented parallel to the plane of rotation of said parallel grinding wheel or normal to the plane of rotation of said cross-grinding wheel.

2. A skate sharpener as set forth in cl 1 wh rein said skate holding clamp comprises pivotally mounted clamp members adapts firmly to grip such skate runner along the edge thereof, means to exert a clamping pressure on such runner, and means bodily to pivot said skate holding clamp about a horizontally extending axis for visual access to the edge of the runner by the operator.

3. A skate sharpener as set forth in claim :1 wherein said skate holding clamp is provided with a vertically extending post pivotally vertically mounted at the distal end of said articulated arm, and means vertically to adjust the height of said post with respect to the distal end of said arm.

4. A skate shar ener as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means to pivot said grinding head assembly comprises a knuckle mounted on the top of said pedestal, a knuckle axle shaft extending therethrough secured to said grinding head assembly, and stop means adapted to limit the pivoting movement of said grinding head assembly to place said grindin wheels either in such vertical or horizontal plane of rotation.

5. A skate sharpener as set forth in claim 1 including a motor mounted on said grinding-head assembly for pivotal movement therewith, and belt means driven by said motor adapted to drive both said grinding wheels.

6. A skate sharpener as set forth in claim 1 including wheel dressers for the respective grinding wheels on said grinding head assembly, the dresser for said cross-grinding wheel comprising a threaded diamond mounted on a pivotally mounted support, the pivot axis for said support intersecting the axis of said grinding wheel, said parallel grinding wheel being provided with an adjustable radiustype diamond dresser.

7. A skate sharpener as set forth in claim '1 wherein said arm is me bearing I 8. A skate pone: comprising upright pedestal, an ice skate g clampmounted on said pedestal adapted to hold the met of such sl; tel plane, means mount; said clamp for movement said glane des or" sai pede" .l, a grindiL assemonnted on said pedestal about an axis subncident with the plane of such runner, a crosseel and pe allel grinding Wheel mounted on lead assembly, axes of sheels interivot {LIES f said grinding head sembly.

r as set forth in claim 8 w rein taunting of said grinding head asseinbiy on come-rises a knuckle on the top of said i 5 through said tired to said grinding head assembly, hai dle operated ciarnp screw means mounte" knn e adapted to clamp said muck e at the esired position, stoo ted to limit the pivotal mover it of said grinning head assembly with res ect to said pedestal.

i=3. A skate sharpener a an articulated arm mounting skate heldin anti-friction veering means mounting the proxirn m on of said arm on said pedestal, pivot joint in said arm, antifriction means in said joint, the distal end of said arm being provided with a vertieally extending socket, said skate holding clamp being provide with a vertically exten-ling post adapted to be 'eeeiyecl in said socket, and means vertie'ally to adjust the height of said post Within said socket.

11. A skate'sharpener corngsrising a grinding head assembly, a pair of power-driven grinding Wheels on said "Finding head assembly, t-iie axes of said Wheels lying 1.1 a common horizontal plane, means mounting said grinding head assembly for pivotal movement about an axis lying in such plane to pivot at least one of said grinding wheels to such horizontal plane, clamp means operalive to hold the runner of such skete'in such horizontal plane, seicl clamp means being mounted for movement in a. Lorizontal plane.

References Qiteti in the file of thispateni UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A SKATE SHARPENER COMPRISING A PEDESTAL, AN ARTICULATED ARM MOUNTED ON SAID PEDESTAL FOR HORIZONTAL SWINGING MOVEMENT ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID PEDESTAL, A SKATE HOLDING CLAMP MOUNTED ON SAID ARM ADAPTED TO HOLD AN ICE SKATE WITH THE RUNNER THEREOF IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE, A GRINDING HEAD ASSEMBLY, A CROSS-GRINDING WHEEL AND A PARALLEL GRINDING WHEEL MOUNTED ON SAID GRINDING HEAD ASSEMBLY, THE AXES OF SAID WHEELS BEING IN THE HORIZONTAL PLANE OF SUCH RUNNER, AND PIVOT MEANS MOUNTING SAID GRINDING HEAD ASSEMBLY ON SAID PEDESTAL ADAPTED TO PIVOT SAID GRINDING HEAD ASSEMBLY ABOUT A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING PIVOT AXIS IN SUCH PLANE TO PLACE SAID WHEELS TO ROTATE IN A VERTICAL OR HORIZONTAL PLANE, SAID SKATE HOLDING CLAMP BEING FREELY MOVABLE IN SUCH HORIZONTAL PLANE OF SUCH RUNNER WHEREBY THE RUNNER OF SUCH SKATE MAY BE PRESENTED PARALLEL TO THE PLANE OF ROTATION OF SAID PARALLEL GRINDING WHEEL OR NORMAL TO THE PLANE OF ROTATION OF SAID CROSS-GRINDING WHEEL. 